Unfortunately, Assiette Restaurant has closed its doors in January 2013.

Rating:

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5/10

8-course Degustation: $105

Place: 8.5/10

Review:

After last week’s record low, I will take you to one of the best restaurants there is in town. Opened in 2005, Restaurant Assiette has never missed a hatted status within the Australian culinary world. They serve 8 courses of French Cuisine.

Seasonal Oyster with Vietnamese dressing and baby coriander

It was a simplistic dish to start off the night. The crispy, fried shallot gave a different accentuation, but the dressings failed to present a notable taste. They also gave the option to use lime if you needed more sourness, although I would not advise you to.

Kataifi Quail Egg with mushrooms, duck consommé and crispy pig ears

The dish might look tiny but it packed a few punches. First sip of the consommé already blew my mind, so delicate and lovely. The quail egg was perfectly soft-boiled and blanketed with the crispy kataifi. The additionof brown mushroom paste made the overall dish to be more savoury with a hint of sweetness.

It was a straight-forward sashimi Tuna with a dried nori.There was a funny combination in the pickled octopus. I think it threw the balance off a little bit. The crustacean cream made the overall taste to be a bit too fishy. I reckon this one was the oddball. The sweet hibiscus and almonds actually saved the dish from the octopus.

In contrast to the last one, a perfectly seared mackerel set our mood back in place (and further!). Crispy on the outside and soft in the inside, the mackerel tasted delightfully refreshing with the cauliflower puree, cucumber and dill emulsion. To top it off, avruga and crumbs introduced the savoury taste into the dish. It was simply fantastic.

This scrumptious dish also had a great combination of taste.The combination of tasty outer ring of the ballotine with quail and foie gras was incredibly soft and smooth. Confit leg was cooked to perfection with a layer of golden brown croustillant. Walnut and date puree complemented the overall taste.

This was the final savoury dish of the day. The taste of medium-rare venison leg was wonderfully enhanced by the sweetness of beetroot puree. The softness of dauphinoise potato and sweetness of heirloom carrots complemented the strong taste of boudin noir. The addition of roasted rice gave an accentuation and an extra complexity for the dish.

Pre dessert of Lychee and Pineapple

Presented in a small cup, highly refreshing lychee combined with sweet pineapple gave such a clean feeling to the palate after series of savoury dishes. An extra hint of freshness was delivered by the sweet-sour lemon sprinkles, balanced by a nice serving of cream on top.

This dessert closed what turned out to be a fantastic night.Yoghurt sorbet provided the sourness and refreshing taste of the dish with. It was made better with fresh strawberries and raspberries. The vanilla doughnut gave us the warm and soft feeling to the plate. There were also some delicious home-made marshmallows. The overall combination with the mint emulsion created a nice mixture of taste.

The final verdict for Restaurant Assiette

Assiette certainly delivered one of the best dining experiences for us. The degustation worked wonderfully, since they gradually gave us dishes that were getting better and better through the course of the night. The last meal of the day was fantastic and the dessert was noticeably big and delivered quite a range of fantastic taste.

Did you know?

Assiette is a French word forplate.

Unfortunately, Assiette lost its 2-hat status for the 2012 Good Food Guide. They were downgraded to 1-hat. Personally, I think they are equal to or better than some of the 2-hat restaurants in this year’s list, in terms of the food taste.